Comparative analysis of english abstracts between domestic and international geriatrics journals / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyze the structural,content and language characteristics of English abstract in domestic versus international geriatrics journals in order to promote international exchange in geriatric medicine research in our country.Methods In this paper,we analyzed the characteristics and contents of original articles published in 5 foreign journals (IF＞3.0) from Pubmed database (n=60) and 5 core (the source of statistics) domestic geriatric journals from Wanfang web during recent 3 years (n=61).Results Our survey showed that in the domestic geriatrics journals,the structured abstracts were used with inflexible four-heading and fixed leading words.In foreign geriatrics journals,however,non-structured abstracts were mostly applied in articles on basic research,and structured abstracts primarily appeared in clinical or survey research papers.Compared with foreign geriatrics journals,the shortages or some problems in English abstracts of the domestic geriatrics journals included a short writing,repetition of objective with title,lack of description of research background,improper description of results data,more passive voice,improper use of modal verbs.Conclusions The domestic geriatrics journals should learn the diverse forms of abstracts and content structure from foreign geriatrics journals,strengthen the elaboration of background and highlights,and use active voice in concordance with the international mainstream.